Mommy Bag! - BCowan Bags Review and Giveaway

When I was younger, my goal always seemed to be avoiding carrying a bag of any sort. If I didn't need to carry my purse, I would skip it.

That all changed when I became a mom. No surprise, I found myself carrying a diaper bag everywhere. The first bag we had was big and bulky and awkward to carry around - but it had everything! Then, we found a smaller bag that still allowed us to carry everything we needed and was a lot less unwieldy.

Then, my kids grew up and I no longer needed to carry a diaper bag, but there were still times when we would go somewhere and need to bring things with us - change of clothes, pajamas, towels, sunscreen, snacks, etc. I'm still not one to carry a large purse, so I needed something else that would allow me to take along the extra stuff but not be too bulky. I tried a few bags, but none of them were quite what I was looking for.

Then, I found it...a custom bag from BCowan Bags. What I like best is the versatility of the bag. They suggest this versatility as they describe possible uses on their site, such as diaper bag, knitting bag, travel bag, dance bag or other.

The bag is custom made - during the ordering process, they ask questions to help customize the bag for you! They ask about what type of bag you are looking for. They ask about what kind of look you want for your bag allowing you to list colors, patterns, boy/girl/unisex bag. Then they ask more about the future owner, requesting fun facts about the person for whom the bag is being bought for including hobbies and interests. Because the bag is custom made, it does take a few weeks to get your bag. But to me, it was worth the wait!

The bag that I received was made with bright colored fabric - a large portion of the bag is yellow (one of my favorite colors), but it also has pink, orange, green and more. The bag is soft, fully made of what I would describe as loosely quilted fabric. I'm not sure how to describe it exactly, but the outside panels are sort of lightly padded. The interior is split into three sections, but the middle panels do not connect to the bottom of the bag. (this could allow for the insertion of a changing pad or a stabilizer across the bottom of the bag if you wanted.) Inside the sections, there are five pockets. There are four external pockets that are about 1/2 the height of the bag - three are on the sides and are 1/3 the length (consistent with the inner divider locations). The handle for the bag was made with some of the materials in the bag and is a long handle that runs through the bag, providing a slight cinch on the edges if the pockets are not full. According to the website, the dimensions of the bag are 15w x 7d x 10h. With it's soft construction, it is easy to fold up to tuck aside while storing.

I have used the bag for a number of different things since receiving it. I love all of the little pockets inside and out - it really makes it easy to have things organized and separated and makes things easy to find.

When our friends were having a picnic and planning to have the kids play in the sprinkler, I used the bag to pack up the kids towels, the bag of chips, the bowl of dip, the sunscreen, the kids change of clothes (for after swimming). It was the perfect bag to tuck everything in for our walk over.

On Saturday mornings this spring, we found ourselves leaving around 9:30 am to go to two soccer games and then coming home around 3 pm after baseball. As such, we needed to have lunch on the go. I packed the bag up with sandwiches, pretzels, cookies, apples, drinks, sun screen, napkins, my wallet (no purse!) and maybe a little more. All the internal sections allowed me to keep from crushing the sandwiches and the pretzels. All the little pockets gave me places to tuck things in too!

The other day, when my daughter and I decided to walk to my son's All-Star Game, it was a great bag to pack in a few essentials for easier carrying. I tucked in my wallet, my book (in case there was free time before the game started), yogurt, water, granola bars, sun screen. It wasn't very full, but with the soft construction, it easily "collapsed" around my stuff and closed off the bag for the walk.

Since it is fully a fabric construction, it can be washed in the washing machine. That's great when you find yourself at a muddy soccer game!

This bag has been a great addition to my busy life and I would recommend it to you. Whether you are looking for a knitting bag, a teacher bag, a reading bag, a picnic bag, a travel bag, a mommy bag, a diaper bag - this bag can work for you.

You can purchase the bag directly through BCowan Bags.

Giveaway!
Courtesy of BCowan Bags, I have the opportunity to have one A Busy Mom of Two reader win a custom made BCowan Bag.

To enter: Leave a comment sharing who the bag would be for and what the use would be.

Additional Entries (please leave a separate comment for each entry):

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Leave a comment with a link to your blog where you have either my button or have a link to A Busy Mom of Two in your blog roll.

Giveaway will remain open until June 28th at 6 pm. Giveaway is open to residents of the US only. One winner will be selected using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (be sure to leave one!) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

This post shared at Works for Me Wednesday.

UPDATE: Don't forget to see here how you can save almost 40% on the purchase of a bag and get bonus entries for the giveaway.

No compensation was received for this post. I received a custom made bag from BCowan Bags and they are also providing one bag for the giveaway. All opinions expressed are my own.